Assessing Readiness to Change: The Neglected Assessment Task

Irrespective of whether one is identifying emerging concerns or risk of significant harm in cases of child neglect, the fundamental purpose of an assessment is to understand how the safety of the individual child and their health and wellbeing are affected by the neglect. Drawing on this knowledge, practitioners can then determine how to intervene to ensure the needs of the child are met. In the UK each nation has its own assessment framework. The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and Their Families (DH et al., 2000), commonly known as the Assessment Framework, is used in England and Wales; in Scotland it is the My World Triangle; and in Northern Ireland UNOCINI (Understanding the Needs of Children in Northern Ireland). All of these frameworks are underpinned by an ecological perspective that recognizes that the development of the child is influenced by both the capacity of the parent or carer to meet their needs and the environment in which the child is brought up (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). This means that practitioners, whether identifying emerging concerns about neglect or assessing the risk of harm to a child, should consider: the developmental needs of the child; parenting capacity to meet those needs; and the family and environmental factors that affect family life. An ecological approach towards assessing the needs of children is also taken in Canada, Romania, the Russian Federation, Slovakia, Sweden, Ukraine, Malta, Croatia, the Republic of Ireland and some parts of the United States of America and Australia (Daly, 2007; Rose, 2010).